Does this trouble anyone else as much as it does me? I mean, Polar Express in 3D was easily on the most terrifying movies I’ve seen in my life (and that’s saying something). A film starring a thousand white men and one black girl? A horrendous series of nausea-inducing scenes with scary-looking elves going in every direction possible? Tom Hanks is what looks like a latex suit???
The desecration of one of my favorite 2D children books in three dimensions was bad enough, but now I have to bombard by fake snow and shitty hot chocolate? That’s just fucked up. Shame on you, Robert Zemeckis. Shame on you, Tom Hanks.
I swear by my spirit, if this shit happens to Beowulf (another scarring experience), you will be getting quite a nasty letter from yours truly, Mr. Zemeckis. At least it won’t be anthrax!
The game, designed for the Super Nintendo Sytem, was an ‘application-type’ game that was one of the first to enable mouse control of musical notes one might place in the hilarious compositional interface, or, even cooler, to utilize primitive stop-animation capacities.
Enter Hunter Fairstone (www.roxpeen.blip.tv) a friend and undergraduate film student at Hampshire College who conceived of the idea during his machinima class of subverting one of those most canonized, sacrosanct scenes from film history, the “Odessa Steps” from Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin. Using nothing but Mario Paint and a deep-seated love/jadedness for the film typical of the film student set, Hunter elevated the scene to a quasi-psychedelic/minimalist 16 bit masterpiece. After showing it to one of his film professors, she remarked that this might be the most offensive thing she’s ever seen. Glorious praise if there ever was any. Take a peek:
Battleship Mario
And the original:
The Odessa Steps Sequence from The Battleship Potemkin
Remember this?
In other news, my new buddy Patsy K. Eagan tipped me onto a pretty damn interesting New Yorker article that some of you might have missed due to that issue’s eye-catching cover (I find it highlarious, btw). It’s a detailed ‘adventure’ into California’s growing culture, but what really struck was many of the interviewees’ reasons behind their current pursuit: the need to aid their anxiety. High recommended. Check it here.
Been an intense series of days around these parts, but at the moment me and my compatriot Dr. Cuts have overtaken a lovely apartment in Stuyvesant Heights and are dancing the stress away. About time we put all of our recent crate digging to use. By the by, this is without a doubt the friendliest, most comfortable neighborhood I’ve ever spent in. Fueling the fun are some delicious milkshakes, courtesy of The Deitch Project, which was bizarre to say the least. If anyone knows since when and why (and who, how and what) Deitch has become the new Mr. Softee, any insight would be greatly appreciated. Damn good milkshakes nonetheless.
In other news, I am beyond pleased to share with you the full text of that Elle article I mentioned the other day about the relationship between marijuana and anxiety. I got in touch with the author, the incredibly kind Patsy K. Eagan, and told her my own history. Having suffered from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) my whole life, in my early twenties I discovered that marijuana provided more relief than paranoia, which seemed to defy conventional wisdom. Even more odd, I started to realize that many of my male and female friends recognized a similar correlation. Why this was, however had been something of a mystery, as I had no idea how to explain to my distressed mother that pot didn’t exacerbate my anxiety (something that had eluded my father, it turned out).
Fortunately, Ms. Eagan has entered the arena of educating people on the scientific causes behind this phenomenon and, as it turns out, the whole thing is, surprise suprise, quite natural.
One study published in a 1982 issue of Psychopharmacology found that the marijuana compound cannabidiol muted the anxiety produced by THC–marijuana’s main psychoactive cannabinoid….Also in the past decade, scientists discovered that the brain produced its own endocannabinoids, which mimic plant-made cannabinoids and transmit their chemical messages through the same neural receptors. High numbers of the receptors were also found to occur in the amygdala and the hippocampus, the parts of the brain that play the biggest role in anxiety. Also significant for anxiety suffers, scientists concluded that endocannabinoids–and arguable cannabainoids–may serve in the forgetting of fear.
Pretty juicy stuff, eh? To read the whole thing, you can download the article here. Well that does it for me…I got some eBay listings to create. At least I’ll have this on repeat the entire time:
So it all began for me back in March. Getting off whatevers train in the lower east side.
And there they were. Not one, but two full-on fashion bowl cuts (1 boy, 1 girl)! To top it all off, the woman had on those fashion suspenders and high waters. Gag. Then it dawns on me. In a fashion world that seems to always be looking backwards for inspiration, what better culture to mine then everyone’s favorite luddites? The Amish!!! Now bear with me here: we already got the suspenders in full swing for the summer, I can sense the bowl cut making a huge comeback–go to a gallery opening and you’ll see my point–and what better item to replace the played out and godawful fedoras I saw everywhere last Summer than a timeless Amish wicker hat?
Now, I am a proud part-time resident of Wooster, Ohio. For those of you less familiar with the layout of Northeast Ohio, it, along with our neighbors, Holmes and Tuscarawas County, contains the largest Amish population in the country (suck it, Pennsylvania). So getting stuck behind a buggy on a country road or seeing little Amish kids at Wal-Mart (they would be known as Yellow Buggy Amish, fyi!) was all part of growing up, making this emerging trend particularly unsettling for me. The restrained quality of Amish clothing and architecture are certainly inspiring–I have a Sol LeWitt moment everytime I see an Amish construction crew assembling a building…oh, the grids!
Perhaps it’s just my personal connection to the trend–I was equally annoyed by the hippy chic thang, having taken my 9th grade photo in a Phish shirt, hemp necklace, and really long hair. But where are the futurists in this industry? History is a wonderful source for established inspiration, but the future is pure possibility and I’m just not seeing the future anywhere I look, especially in the mirror: t-shirt, cords, loafers, everyday of my life. But on the streets and most runways? Rehash and repeat. But hey, I’m not a ‘fashionista’, I just work in the business and have a big mouth.
Not usually one to even acknowledge, let alone celebrate my birthday, after this past weekend I do believe I contracted birthday fever! And you know what I did? Not a damn thing! Well, I did see Kode9, theoretician cum DJ/producer who turned my world upside down (not that the drinks didn’t help) with his funky house/dubstep direction. The rest of the weekend, I read, was given various pats on the back, and finally got back to making some music.
Turned 24. When I turned 23, my beer belly finally came in (oh, us late bloomers!), so I’m hoping this is the year I grow real, full-sized moobs
Lately, I’ve been crazy busy working to promote my company, PONO’s, Give Love, Practice Peace (link) campaign, an effort to promote awareness and funds for Al Gore’s The Climate Project, Give a Girl a Chance, and the National Defense Resource Fund (check). The post-collegiate hellscape is a tricky one. Shuffled off to entry-level jobs unsure of pretty much everything; all I can say is that I am pleased I get to learn something new everyday through my work. I mean, I worked at Taco Bell for over a year, so learning about stuff like SEO and all that these internets contain is rewarding to say the least.
Man, I’m in a sappy mood, huh? I think that calls for a sappy song, does it not?
Romanthony-The Wanderer
Each time I hear this song, I feel like I’m making up for 13 years of lapse
And a good day to you, fair friend! The name’s Terrorbooty but don’t let the name full you; peace and love is what I’ about (cheesy, but true). So what’s my shtick? I work on e-commerce for the beautiful people at PONO, a lovely NYC-based accessories line who are also fueled by peace and love. Goes to show what a philosophy/history degree gets you these days. Currently, I live by myself in Ohio and come to the city monthly; it’s pretty chill. But besides music and learning, I am an electronic musician/fanatic and play in a slew of weirdo projects. So what better way to unify multiple personalities than a blog?!
Surveying the virtual desert that is the blogosphere, I decided that what the internet truly, truly needed was another blog, especially one by an anonymous androgynous information junkie! Seriously though, I envision this to be a daily mish-mash of musings on the high and low, a phrase you hopefully won’t see me use again. These days, what the difference? Whether it be Spinoza or Speidi, Gucci and Goodwill, and Lil Wayne or LaMonte Young, everything feeds into and off of each other. Thanks for that one internet!
aa
Yeah, one’s a pop song with a wicked beat and some of Weezy’s best free association and the other’s a 10 minute drone piece, but for me, there is no difference. These homies are Zen soulmates for life; they won’t stop, can’t stop.
In other news, there’s an extremely fascinating article in July’s Elle (the one with professional clothes horse Mary-Kate Olsen on the cover). “What, an intriguing article in Elle???” Well, in the course of doing some accessories research for my job, I came across an article by Patsy K. Eagan about the relationship between anxiety and marijuana. Having suffered from the one since I was three and used the other for some time to help ease my angst, I found it an oddly moving article to find in Elle of all places! I currently can’t find it online, but I contacted Patsy and maybe, just maybe, she’ll slip me a copy to share.
Tomorrow’s my birthday, which I usually don’t give two shits about, but the fantastic DJ/producer Move D, whose Drone single is a definite fave for the year, is playing Sunday’s Best at The Yard from 3-9pm and it will be banging! No stylized mannequins there, just good people who love to get down!
Talk about random. Hopefully talk to you all tomorrow!
